If you don’t want to print your entire Excel sheet, you can select a specific range of cells to be printed. You can also select multiple ranges of cells. Each range can be printed on a separate page. You can keep adding to your existing print area, and you can also clear out all the print areas.
If you want a preview, you can view all the print areas before actually printing them out. Printing pre-selected areas in Excel is not just a great feature, but also an easy one that you can do in seconds.
3 Methods to set the print area in Microsoft Excel:
- Use Set Print Area
- Use Add Print Area
- Use the Page Setup dialog box
Let us begin.
Method #1: Use Set Print Area
This method is ideal if you have a new worksheet, and need to define which area should be included in your printout.
Step #1: Open your workbook
Open the Excel application and click on Blank workbook to open a new workbook.
Fill in the required data.
If you already have an existing sheet, open that.
Step #2: Select the range of cells
Place your mouse on a cell and drag the cursor across your desired range of cells to select it.
You’ll see a colored border around the selected range.
Step #3: Navigate to Page Layout
Go to the Page Layout tab in the main menu bar.
Click on the Print Area icon.
Choose Set Print Area from the drop-down options that appear.
The selected cells will now form the print area.
Method #2: Use Add Print Area
Use this method if you already have an existing print area in your MS Excel document.
Step #1: Open your workbook
Create a blank workbook and fill it with the required data.
If you already have an existing worksheet for which you have to set the print area, open that.
Step #2: Select the range of cells
Place your mouse on a cell and drag the cursor across your desired range of cells to select it.
You’ll see a colored border around the selected range.
Step #3: Navigate to Page Layout
Go to the Page Layout tab in the main menu bar.
Click on the Print Area icon.
Select Add to Print Area from the options listed in the drop-down.
The range of cells will now be included in the existing print area.
Method #3: Use the Page Setup Dialog Box
If your workbook is slightly complicated with some areas to be included in the print area, and some adjacent areas not, then using the Page Setup dialog box will give you the flexibility to set different ranges as the print area in one go.
Step #1: Open your workbook
Open the workbook in which you want to print areas.
If you don’t have one, you can create a blank workbook and add the required data.
Step #2: Navigate to Page Layout
Go to the Page Layout tab in the main menu bar.
Click on the extend icon, which is a small arrow at the bottom right of the Page Setup area, to open the full range of available choices.
This will open up the Page Setup window..
Step #3: Go to the Sheet tab
In the Page Setup window, select the Sheet tab.
Step #4: Enter the range
In the Print Area field, you can manually enter the range of cells.
To add multiple ranges, just add a comma after the previous range and enter the next range.
This would look something like A1:A6, C1:C6 if you wanted to omit column B.
Alternatively, you can select the cells like in the previous methods, by clicking on the arrow icon to the extreme right of the Print Area field.
The Page Setup window will minimize, and you can select the range by clicking and dragging over the cells to select the area.
Once you are done, the range will be updated automatically in the text field.
Step #5: Click OK
After confirming your ranges, click the OK button.
The ranges will now form the print area.
Conclusion
You don’t have to struggle to set print areas in your Excel workbook anymore. You can use the methods above to set print areas or add to an existing print area. Let us know which one you found useful in the comments section!